My Pleasure, Miss Shaw
by Salomedancing
Summary: After Elizabeth Shaw has left the Doctor she is contacted by an intriguing stranger who she thinks wants her scientific expertise, but in reality he wants far more. Het but with slash undertones. Warnings for BDSM.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any The Doctor Who characters.**

**Author's Notes:**

**This fic is mainly het, but there is a slashy undercurrent. Time Lords are so obviously fluid when it comes to looks and gender, so it seems entirely logical that their sexuality would be as well. I, however, seriously suck at writing slash so even if this fic is very much written with a serious sexual attraction between the Doctor and the Master (well, from the Master at least) in mind, it will mostly be in subtext and probably mostly be noticeable in the last chapter. The warnings apply to the second chapter and somewhat to the last. There will also be some highly dubious consent in the second chapter, possibly warranting a change of warnings when it completed.**

** I adore Roger Delgado's Master, in my view he is the best of them. I also have a bit of a crush on Delgado himself, which is a bit awkward because he is a) dead and b) of my grandparent's generation anyway. But from everything I have read and heard of him he seems to have been an intelligent, educated and kind man and with the addition of those saturnine good looks, well, that just is my type- I could as well have described my husband here.**

Sometimes Elizabeth Shaw missed working with the Doctor. His brilliance, his energy, it had been both challenging and fun being his assistant, but at the end of the day she felt that she had made the right decision to return to Cambridge. Being her own woman and in charge suited her better, so apart from occasional mild regrets, she was very happy to be back. Sometimes she was consulted by UNIT, for shorter or longer periods, so she wasn't unduly surprised when she received a letter from a Mr. Heartsmet who was funding a research project and had been recommended to Miss Shaw by UNIT as a person uniquely suitable as the project touched upon several of the areas she was proficient in. .It was a very interesting project and just by the outlines Mr. Heartsmet provided, Liz could see a number of exiting possibilities and she wrote back, agreeing on meeting him to discuss a possible involvement.

Mr. Heartsmet turned out to be an elegant middle age man with greying dark hair and beard. Elizabeth found his rather diabolic look somewhat theatrical at first, but despite the first dramatic impression he made, he was polite and soft-spoken. He bowed deeply over her hand and she almost thought he would kiss it before he gave it a firm shake.

"This is completely my pleasure, Miss Shaw. I have heard a lot of you from a mutual acquaintance."

"Oh. Who?"

He smiled. "Our dear Doctor, of course. We have met on numerous occasions and I dare say that I know him quite well. A most excellent fellow, if one somewhat exasperating at times."

Liz smiled back. "Oh yes, he can certainly be that."

"And his choice of clothes, if I may say so, is perhaps a little over the top."

The sentence was followed by a quick glance down on his own well-dressed figure and Liz thought he looked rather smug. She concluded that he probably was as vain as the Doctor, even if she privately thought his understated elegance was much more appealing than purple velvet and evening cloaks.

With that he left the subject of the Doctor and started to tell her about his project. He told her was an independently wealthy man who occasionally funded projects that he thought could have a significant scientific value. He very much wanted Liz to give her input and her valuable time would, of course, be amply compensated. He had set up a laboratory and would be delighted if she could regularly, but at times that suited her, come and work there. He also provided a letter of recommendation from UNIT, written by a person Liz had only had briefly been in contact with, but referring to both the Brigadier and the Doctor. She smiled fondly at the memory of the Doctor and then, quite charmed by Mr. Heartsmet's obvious eagerness to have her on board, she agreed to join his project.

Liz didn't regret her decision. The project turned out to be exactly as exiting as it had been promised and Mr. Heartsmet seemed to be determined to giver her any funding she needed. He mostly left her alone to work as she pleased, but when they met to discuss the progress, he was both interested and helpful. Often she felt that a few words from him could make her thoughts and ideas go in completely new and unexpected directions. She soon thought that his intelligence was rival only to the Doctor and though he was generally very unlike him, Liz sometime felt that they were eerily alike, but perhaps it was just the likeness a genius must have to another one.

There was, however, more than just the project that Liz enjoyed, though it took some time for her to admit it to herself, the company Mr. Heartsmet himself. After their conferences he invariably took her to dinner and though he was very reserved about his personal life he was also very charming and the vast scope of his intelligence made for interesting and sometime quite lively discussions. His knowledge was not all encompassing, at times there were subjects, somewhat odd and baffling subjects actually, when he claimed ignorance, but the next time they met, he had always read up.

Indeed, she could not deny that she grew more and more interested in him. And why not? She was unattached and as far as she could make out, so was he. He was handsome, sophisticated and very attentive. He always noticed what she was wearing and complimented her and as a result she spent more time selecting her clothes when they were to meet. Liz had a growing feeling that he was courting her, in a painfully slow and extremely polite way. She certainly hoped he did. Once or twice she considered taking the first step, she thought of herself as a modern woman and it wouldn't be the first time. In the end she decided against it. If she was right, then she wouldn't want to rush it and if she was wrong she might jeopardize their professional relationship. So she allowed herself to settle in the pace he set and enjoyed herself more than she had for a long time.

A few months after first meeting Mr. Heartsmet, Lis was pleasantly surprised when she bumped into the Brigadier outside the train station a sunny morning and allowed herself to be whisked away for a cup of coffee and gossip. He was just passing, he told her, having a bit of time to kill before a connecting train would take him away to a very important and hush hush meeting. Then he proceeded to tell her what mischief the Doctor had been up to lately as well as a few instances of saving the world, before Liz countered with saying how grateful she was that UNIT had sent Mr. Heartsmet her way. She felt herself grow a little flustered and actually burbling happily when she talked about him, totally unlike her usual collected self and it took her some time to realize that the Brigadier was frowning.

"My dear Miss Shaw, I'm very sorry, but I have never heard of a Mr. Heartsmet?"

There was suddenly a cold trickle down her spine. "I don't understand. He came to me with a letter from UNIT. He knows the Doctor and he clearly knows him very well."

The Brigadier watched her with growing alarm. "Perhaps if you can describe him?"

"Oh yes, he is very distinctive, you will remember him if you met him. Not very tall, dark hair and a beard, actually quite sinister looking, at least until you really talk with him."

The Brigadier held up his hand. "Miss Shaw, I know who that man is, but has never worked for UNIT, rather the opposite. He knows the Doctor, all right; he has tried to kill him on numerous occasions. He is also very good at manipulations and has exercised mind control on UNIT members before. I'm certain that is why he could give you a legitimate looking recommendation. In fact, he is not even a man, he is a Time Lord called the Master.

Liz shook her head. "That can't be true." She knew it was, though and she felt like she had been hit.

The Brigadier looked at her with sympathy. "You like him, don't you? If it is any comfort, you are not alone. Even the Doctor, who knows full well what the Master is capable of, seems to like him. He can be very charming when he choose to, but believe me, he is extremely dangerous."

He leaned forward and took her hand, looking very serious. "I find it extremely worrisome that he has made and maintained this contact with you. He has clearly been using your brilliance for his own ends, he has done that before and he has no qualms killing those people when he is through with them. But I fear that your connection to the Doctor plays an even bigger part. It would be extremely likely that he has planned to hurt the Doctor through you. I think it will be best if you go back to UNIT at once so we can ensure your safety. I can't skip my meeting, but I will detach some of my personnel to escort you back.

Liz nodded weakly. Her head spun and she felt a bit nauseous, but she didn't doubt the Brigadier. He was an upright and honest man and this unusual eloquence from him only served to underline his worry. Beside, she trusted the Doctor and if he viewed this Master as dangerous and evil, then he must be, but oh, it hurt to think that she had been so badly deceived.

"Yes, yes I guess you are right." She felt very distracted, her thoughts ran in all direction at once, but then she pulled herself together. "Wait, I need to get back to the laboratory. The work I've done for him, there is some real scientific value in it. But it can used both for good or bad ends, depending on how you use it and I must get my paper and notes back.

The Brigadier seemed inclined to disagree at first, bit Liz managed to persuade him that she really needed her work. She also knew that Mr. Heartsmet, no the Master, was travelling away from Cambridge at the moment so going for her paper would be easily done. They returned to the train station and met the Brigadiers small entourage of young and eager men and Liz left for her paper with three large watchdogs and many admonitions from the Brigadier about being careful, quick, and above all, careful.


	2. Chapter 2

Liz asked her escort to wait for her outside the laboratory and then quickly started to collect her files. She was so concentrated on her task that she didn't hear the man who had entered the room quietly until he spoke.

"Why in such a hurry, Miss Shaw?"

Mr. Heartsmet, the Master, was standing quite close to her and she wondered how she could ever have thought he looked theatrical, because there was only menace in his gaze now, even if he was smiling a little. Liz took a step back without meaning to and laughed, a much too brittle sound in her ears.

"Oh, I thought you were away. I'm not in a hurry, not at all, no, just sorting through a few things."

He came closer. "One of the things that constantly amaze me when it comes to humans is how badly they lie, especially as they do it so often. And you, Miss Shaw, are exceedingly bad at it. I know that you know who I am now."

"How do you know that? Oh. You had me watched?"

"Of course. It was always highly probable that you would compare notes with someone eventually, so you have been under discreet surveillance since the first day we met. When I heard that you had a cozy little chat with the Brigadier, I knew that this pleasant interlude had to come to an end. He may be dim-witted, but not, unfortunately, stupid enough. Oh well, I had almost got everything I needed from this phase anyway and I don't regret moving forward a little too soon."

While he spoke he had slowly moved closer, but Liz hadn't realised that she was backing away from him until she stood flat against the wall and couldn't get further away. She was suddenly very conscious of her clothes. The day had been supposed to be a day off and she had dressed accordingly in a short-sleeved blouse and a skirt showing off a good deal of bare legs. Much more than she ever did in the more conservative ones she wore for work. She was wearing her hair loose as well, tumbling halfway down her back and without the shield of upswept hair and a suit she felt curiously naked under the Master's cold scrutiny.

"What is the matter, my dear?"

"I would like to go now, please. If you are finished here, well, you won't need me anymore."

"You don't really believe that I will let you leave, Miss Shaw. Don't insult my intelligence, or your own, by pretending stupidity." He ran his gloved fingers from her temple to her throat. "Besides, you don't even want to go, do you?. Why, this is what you have wanted for quite some time now, isn't it? Just you and me, undisturbed and with my undivided attention."

Liz shook her head. It was true, she had imagined that, but she was not going to let him know it. "People will come to look for me, soon."

"Not soon enough. Your puppies outside are incapacitated and guarded and the Brigadier is far from here and so is the Doctor. I have no doubt that they will raise heaven and hell eventually, but it will be too late for you by then."

The Master lifted a strand of her hair, a thick golden red lock and coiled it around his fingers.

"You do have a beautiful hair. I must confess to be quite partial to just this shade. Indeed, you are quite attractive, for a human and you are, by far, the most intelligent ape I have ever met. As it happened I have actually had good use of you human viewpoint for my little project, though perhaps not as much as you have been led to believe, my main goal was something else."

Liz stood very still. Her instincts were screaming at her to bolt and run, but he stood so close and he had wound her hair several times around his hand now. So she swallowed and tried to speak in a normal conversational tone.

"What is it you want then?"

"The last few months I have been engaged in a very careful study one specific subject; you. How could I resist a brilliant scientist who used to tag along with the Doctor? I have wanted you since I first heard your name. It has been a very successful project, so far, I can read you like an open book now and I know you better than anyone have ever done. I even know what you dream of deep down, those dreams that you try to not even acknowledge yourself."

The hand in her hair had wound itself to her scalp, forcing Liz head back and up. A terrible suspicion rose in her mind. As a scientist she was well aware of the many peculiar ways human sexuality could take and as a scientist she had no problems with that, but that was on a clinical and impersonal level. Her own private dreams were something else, they were secrets that she had always been to shy to tell any lovers and that she had long decided were to be just private fantasies. No one could know those and she was sure no one would be able to guess at random, but then she remembered what the Brigadier had told her of The Master's ability to control minds.

"You have had me hypnotized!"

"Oh, only for a few minutes occasionally, to get those answers you just wouldn't give me otherwise. But on the whole, no. Mind control is an excellent tool, but wrecks havoc with the creative and intellectual process, it would have been very counter-productive to try to keep you under perpetual control." He smiled and tugged her hair, quite gently. "Besides mindless obedience may be useful, but it will satisfy me so much more to bend you to my wishes without it."

He leaned in on her, his voice soft and amused close to her ear. "There is nothing as beautiful as a woman with fear in her eyes. You are so very beautiful right now, Miss Shaw and still it excites you, doesn't it? That you are powerless and that it is only my pleasure that have any importance here at all. That I can hurt you and that I will hurt you and you will love it, because you have always wanted it."

He tightened his grip of her hair, tugging hard now, so he head was tilted back even more and she had to look him straight in the eye. There were no kindness and humour in those eyes now and Liz felt it as if she was staring into an abyss. An abyss she had stared into for months without realising that a monster was looking back at her all the time. And now she was cornered, her mouth dry from fear while her body responded to his words because this was her own fantasy coming to life and her mind and reason could not stop the hot desire that shot through her.

"No", she whispered. "That is not true,"

He released her and took a step back. "Lies again, Miss Shaw? I think you have acquired a very bad habit. What shall we do to cure you of it?"

AN: The abyss and the monster is on loan from Friedrich Nietzsch: **He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.**


End file.
